The Desert Foxes of Algeria continued their impressive streak against the Super Eagles as they recorded a 2-1 win in Tuesday’s international friendly in Oran, Completesports.com reports.
Terem Moffi gave the Super Eagles the lead early in the first half but goals from Riyad Mahrez and Youcef Atal sealed the comeback win.
The result means Algeria have now won their last four encounters with the Super Eagles.
The Algerians were awarded a free-kick on 5th minute in a good area but the effort came off the Super Eagles wall.
But it was the Eagles who broke the deadlock on 9th minute as Moffi slotted into an empty net after Kelechi Iheanacho’s initial shot was blocked.
In the 16th minute a chance fell for Mahrez on the edge of the box but his shot was blocked for a corner.
Mahrez almost equalised for Algeria on 20 minutes following a poor back pass header by Zaidu Sanusi but his strike came off the post.
The Algerians continued to probe and were almost rewarded on 27 minutes but Calvin Bassey made a timely block from a dangerous cross.
In the 29th minute Ademola Lookman thought he had doubled the Super Eagles lead but he was flagged for offside.
Iheanacho tested the Algerian keeper from range in the 31st minute which he held.
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With 10 minutes left the Algerians got a free kick in a good area but Francis Uzoho made a calm save off the boot of Youcef Belaili.
Mahrez drew Algeria level from the penalty spot on 41 minutes, after Frank Onyeka fouled Ramy Bensebaini who followed up on a rebound which came off the post.
With a minute remaining Iheanacho sent in a dangerous set piece but Ola Aina failed to get to it on as it went out for a goal kick.
Five minutes into the second half Belaili cut in from the left beat Kevin Akpoguma but fired wide off the mark.
On 56 minutes Islam Slimani almost put Algeria ahead as he connected with a cross with his head only to see the effort miss the target.
On the hour mark Iheanacho was set up by Moffi but shot straight at the keeper inside the box.
In the 61st minute Algeria went 2-1 up thanks to Atal sent in a long range strike which beat Uzoho.
Moffi almost equalized for the Super Eagles but saw his goal bound shot take a deflection and went straight to the goalkeeper.
With 20 minutes left Saviour Godwin was brought on for Lookman.
Two minutes later Taiwo Awoniyi replaced goal scorer Moffi.
With 12 minutes left Algeria were awarded a free kick but the cross was headed over the bar.
In the 85th minute Cyriel Dessers and Raphael Onyedika replaced Onyeka and Iheanacho.
In the 88th minute the Super Eagles broke on the left through Sanusi but his low cross was cut out for a corner.
And in stoppage time Algeria got a free kick for a foul committed by Bassey but the attempt went just over the bar.
By James Agberebi
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21 Comments
We don turn maga for this Algerian coach hand…lol
I have a feeling we will meet in the nations cup and revenge will be sweet.
Not only you bro… with Osimhen, Aribo, Indidi, this people go chop am. If they like, let them use Algerian referee. We can even be going to matches now without using goal keepers. There won’t be difference . But this coach will get it right. Playing them like this away wasn’t really bad as people paint am.
You all should understand that Algerians were playing at home, coupled with the disappointment of not going to the world cup.
Yeah that is understood but our play was disjointed apart from the bad officiating but we can take solace in the fact that we are missing like 4-5 players.
Remember that this Algerian team have been playing together for long, and this is the 2nd or 3th SE coach this Algerian manager is playing with, we are just trying to get a good team together, if this man(Pasero) can get a good team together on the pitch, I believe that SE have a very good players that can go places
Had the second goal not cancelled perhaps it could have finished differently who knows,perhaps the decision killed the spirit of the boys because we were playing well until that unfortunate decision.
Not making excuses though but officiating should be spot on it’s not fair when a genuine goal is cancelled especially when playing away against a good side where chances don’t come many.
We were poor though and outplayed.
We were second best all through the second period.
Our coach had no answer because he’s short in the midfield so he couldn’t make any game changing substitution.We have Raphael as the only midfielder on the bench we could see why the coach left him so late.His introduction compounded our situation,Awoniyi’s introduction too killed any little bite we had in the attack he was just giving away possession.
It was a poor display by our standards against a well coached and skillful Algerian team.
“I shall win the next Afcon”Monsieur Peseiro welcome to African football it’s better said than done.
Exactly we had only onyedika on the bench as our only midfielder.. that should be a lesson to our coach.. why invite awaziem and valentine with few midfielders.. how many defender will be play in a match.. if we have more midfield option we could have altered the midfield dominance of the Algerian team.. onyedika wasn’t in the game when he came on, sometimes it is difficult for the new players to gel with the team.. probably an nwakali with afcon experience would have been be better or an aribo..
NIGERIA SUPER EAGLES ARE DISAPPOINTING I DON’T KNOW WHAT IS WRONG WITH OUR TEAM
Things have fallen apart again. The good old days with Genot Rohr can’t be forgotten with performance like this. I thought Rohr was the problem. We really owe that man an apology.
Notice that the ref had the name MAHREZ printed on the back of his jersey?
Why would a proper ref agree to have the name of a player on his back, a player that is playing in a match you’re officiating? All kinds of red flags here.
The Algerians were bent on winning this game, by hook or crook. Shining lasers at the faces of opponents, throwing water bottles at them, Algerian players diving up and down as if they are prepping for diving in the next Olympics. The shameful way the fans rained water bottles on the SE players as they celebrated Moffi’s goal says it all.
If Lookman’s goal had been allowed, Nigeria would have been up 2 nil, and the match would have been pretty much over. Algeria may likely have pushed men up looking for a goal to get back in the game, which would have left them exposed at the back, and Nigeria would have picked them off on the counter.
It’s tough to compete against a good Algeria side. Add the partisan crowd, and a ref who has been compromised, and it becomes a mission almost impossible.
Perhaps the result is for the best. If the SE had won this game, the safety of the players and coaching staff might have been threatened, especially considering the maddening crowd.
Not the best performance from the SE, but the biased officiating is a valid excuse, in my opinion.
I wonder how the fans were so hostile just for a mere friendly game?? The goal by lookmam was legal, TV replays shows he was clearly onside.
God bless @ Pompeii. That referee smartly and tactically demoralised our SE to favour the Algerians, take it or leave it. Referees know how to do this if they choose to. People were asking our players to press. How do you press without body contact? and this is where the referee tactically acted to give the Algerians the upper hand because almost everytime our players had contacts to win balls, these cheats calling themselves Algeria NT players would feign an injury/fall which comes with threat of a card; yellow or Red. This has been the antics of these North African cheats, reason they never ever do well outside Africa despite their suppose dominance in Africa.
We should stop crying about officiating. Lookman was returning from an offside position when the Algerian Gk spilt it and was still looking inches, I repeat, inches offside at the time Moffi touched the ball after the Algerian goalkeeper spilt it (Pause the video at exactly 4.08). The penalty call is not one anybody should even dispute. A stamp in the penalty box these days is nothing but a penalty and a card. Ola Aina vs Sudan at AFCON readily comes to mind.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fgMp05wT094
We should speak directly to where words need to be spoken….the SE were pretty incompetent in their display tonight. From the technical crew to the players, that was some really really incompetent display. The referee was not the reason we couldn’t create 1 clear cut chance the entire 90 minutes.
The take away from the game for me was the Bassey-Akpoguma partnership that just seems to have been born now. It give hope for the future.
Offside considerations came about AFTER the Algeria goalie fumbled the ball. If a forward is quicker to the ball than the opposing defenders, and takes advantage of a goalie fumble, do the offside rules apply?
That would be tantamount to giving the goalie a get-out-of-jail card. If this is really offside, then their is no point for forwards to follow up on shots at goalies, as the forward will 9 times out of 10 be ahead of the last defender in that scenario. For that matter, if a forward moves behind the last defender and closes down the goalie during a high press, and dispossesses him of the ball, would he be considered offside?
Nigeria was below par on the day, but that is irrelevant in determining the validity of the goal scored.
By disallowing the goal, the ref and his assistants took a decision that significantly impacted the outcome of the game.
I think what Drey was trying to point out was that Lookman was ahead of Moffi when Moffi passed the ball to him. Had Moffi scored instead the goal would have stood. I don’t think he meant Moffi was offside.
Gbam. 10/10
Moffi was definitely not offside.
The question is: Was that a pass from Moffi to Lookman? His heavy touch put the ball in Lookman’s path. That was a 50-50 ball, and Lookman got there first.
Oga pompei….in football, once the ball touches any part of your teammate’s body (except the arm) before reaching you…..even if it as much as grazes that part of the body, it is deemed a pass and enough to put you in an offside position if you are.
As you rightly said “…Offside considerations came about AFTER the Algeria goalie fumbled the ball…”. Now at the point when the keeper fumbled the ball, if Moffi had taken a straight shot…he wouldnt have been deemed offside, as the ball would have been deem to still be a pass to him from Iheanacho, provided he was NOT offside when Iheanacho took the shot. When strikers react quicker in following up spilled shots or ricochets of balls hit by their teamates, their position at the time of last touch of the teamates is the ultimate judge of an offside call in that phase of play
But Moffi’s touch of the ball initiates a 2nd phase of play (4.07 – 4.08) which puts Lookman who was at that time still retreating from an offside position in an offside position.
Closing down and dispossesing a Gk during a high press (a la Maduka vs Algeria B) can in no way be an offside, because the pass isnt coming from the attackers team mate. You cant be offside from a pass from your opponent
I’m sorry for always coming late….
I think we really need to pray that God Almighty should bless all black Stars of Ghana players, the entire coaching crew and all the fans for saving us from the shame, disgrace & embarrassment we’ll have suffered during the 2022 world cup in Qatar.
Ghana knocking us out is a blessing in disguise and we all owe them apologies if we fail to appreciate or thank them.
The below averrage performance the super pigeons…., oh sorry…. I mean super duck fowl of PINICK, SUNDAY DARE, ODEGBAMI & NFF put up against Algeria in Oran was the worst any Nigerian team (male or female) has ever played for almost a decade now.
Imagine forcing a B TEAM of ALGERIA to a 2-2 draw and four days later, being outclassed by the main team.
Even our then super chicken (pre-ROHR’s) era can never be outplayed in Such manner.
Infact at a point I was wondering if we were using our FALCONET or FLAMINGOS to play the Algerian team.
If this is the team we call super eagles then there’s more hope to TAHITI winning a game in future world cup finals than Nigeria winning AFCON.
This is nonsensical…. The Algerians were playing like the then Barca team that paraded BOSQUET – XAVI-INIESTA in midfield.
For this super pigeon to be what we’re dreaming of, some dead wood must be kicked out of the team.
Apart from IWOBI, BASSEY & few others that gave a good account of themselves, the rest were just in Algeria to fulfill all righteousness.
Once again Ghana, thank you for saving us and entire Africa from the Qatar shame.
SHALOM